EPSTEIN
page 3 / 1643 . OCR, unverified
victims, although they spoke to the police early on, did not
cooperate with them. So we don't have any follow up
information.
THE COURT: But the board found a Level Three.
I have to tell you, I am a little overwhelmed
because I have never seen the prosecutor's office do
anything like this. I have never seen it. I had a case
with one instance it was a marine who went to a bar, and I
wish I had the case before me, but he went to a bar and a 17
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year old, he was an adult obviously, he MS a Marine, a 17
year old came up to him and one thing lead to another and he
had sex with her and the People would not agree to a
downward modification on that.
So I am a little overwhelmed here because I see --
I mean I read everything here, I am just a little
overwhelmed that the People are making this application.
I could cite many many, I have done many SORAs
much less troubling than this one where the People would
never make a downward argument like this.
MS. GAFFNEY: I agree with Your Honor, it is
incredibly unusual for us to make a downward argument. But
the problem is the one thing that we have from the board is
it seems to be in contradiction to their own guidelines
which if something was not indicted, you are not supposed to
rely on it.
THE COURT: They obviously took that into
consideration.
MS. GAFFNEY: And I tried to reach -- I reached
the authorities in Florida to try to see if they had all the
interview notes or other things that we can then
subsequently rely on that might be considered clear and
convincing evidence, if they had interviewed these women on
their own, and they never did. No one was cooperative and
they did not go forward on any of the cases and none of them
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were indicted. So I don't know.
THE COURT: And you spoke to the prosecutor?
MS. GAFFNEY: The actual prosecutor left the
office. I spoke to the prosecutor that took over the case.
THE COURT: Maybe you can find the prosecutor that
left the office.
You have done more in other cases looking into it.
I have never seen the prosecutor's office do this. I have
to tell you, I am shocked.
MS. GAFFNEY: Right, but I spoke to the prosecutor
that took over the case and they don't have anything, any
affidavits, any statements, any notes.
THE COURT: Why don't you speak to the prosecutor
that did do the case, I am sure you could find that
prosecutor.
MS. GAFFNEY: I can find her, but based upon what
the other prosecutor said, they did not speak to that
prosecutor either.
THE COURT: You did not speak to the prosecutor
yourself, you did not speak to them, that is hearsay. You
did not speak to the prosecutor that handled the case.
MS. GAFFNEY: That's right.
THE COURT: I don't think you did much of an
investigation here.
MS. GAFFNEY: I mean I called the prosecutor.
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Even though the first prosecutor left, presumably the
prosecutor's office has the file.
THE COURT: I would still call the prosecutor.
MS. GAFFNEY: Anything from these women they would
have forwarded it to us.
THE COURT: I don't know that, I think you have to
speak to the prosecutor.
But be that as it may, I hear your argument.
Anything else?
MS. GAFFNEY: I mean that is why I don't think we
can, I don't think we are entitled to rely on this because
they did not go forward.
THE COURT: The board made a recommendation.
MS. GAFNEY: Correct.
MS. MUSUMECI: May I speak, Your Honor?
THE COURT: Yes.
MS. MUSUMECI: Good afternoon.
I would like to bring a few additional points to
Your Honor's attention that don't come across in the board
recommendation.
The first is that Mr. Epstein is not a resident of
New York, unlike most of these out of state, he has not
changed his address and moved to New York, he maintains a
vacation home in New York. His primary residence is the
U.S. Virgin Islands.
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He is registered in the U.S. Virgin Islands, he
has been since his release from jail. He notifies the
Virgin Island authorities every time he leaves that
jurisdiction. Virgin Island authorities rated him at the
lowest level of registration.
He also registered in Florida, which is the state
of this particular offense, and the only reason that this
conviction is even before Your Honor.
The offense for which he was convicted is not a
registrable offense in New York. He is only registrable
here arguably because based on the provision of SORA that
says if a crime is registrable in the state of conviction,
then it is registrable here in New York. And the Florida
authorities that considered that rated him at the lowest
level of their SORA statute.
He additionally has a vacation home in New Mexico